Billionaire Bodyguard 1 : Billionaire Bodyguard(26)

"You're a real bastard sometimes," Logan muttered over his shoulder.

"Excuse me?" Rick coughed. " I'm the bastard?"

Allison's eyelashes fluttered. Logan held up his hand. "Shush, she's coming to."

"Good. I have questions that need answers."

Logan gritted his teeth. "You'll shut up until I tell you different."

"Did you just draw a line in the sand?"

Logan nodded. "Cross it, and you'll wish you never knew me."

Rick huffed with indignation. "What the hell's gotten into you?"

Logan sank onto his haunches in front of Allison. He swept her hair back from her damp forehead. "You're all right, Allison." She blinked awake, eyes dazed. Then her face registered a resurgence of panic. "Easy, sweetheart." He touched her gently, soothing away the fear. "Don't try to sit up yet. Take it slow."

Rick smacked his forehead. "Unbelievable." He paced and muttered under his breath. "Try to do a guy a favor … the thanks I get … looking out for the company … then because of some chick … "

Logan leaped to his feet, whirled on Rick. "Get. Out. Before I throw you out."

Rick stormed off.

Focusing on Allison again, Logan leaned in coaxing gently. "It's just you and me now. You're safe." He tried to ease her through the transition from unconsciousness back to the world of hostility and fear that had overwhelmed her. "Everything's okay."

As she regained her grip on the present, she seized up. "It's not okay, Logan." The way she cupped her abdomen caused him to arch an eyebrow. "Everything is a mess." 

"What were you saying before?" he urged. "Something about a baby?" For some reason he had trouble breathing.

A wretched look stole over her features. "I didn't want to tell you like this."

"Tell me what."

"Logan, I'm pregnant." She chocked back a sob. "And you're the father."

CHAPTER 5

Logan's heart came to a standstill.

Pregnant?

Slowly, the news penetrated.

Allison was pregnant with his child.

Awe swelled in his chest. Archaic triumph awakened inside him.

Unexpected? Yes. Unwanted? God, no.

Suddenly, his world centered on a hope he'd forgotten to wish for. Something that had crossed his mind but he'd dismissed, his focus on building his business. There hadn't been time to pursue anything else. Honestly, he'd assumed since he hadn't found the right woman or the right situation, a family wasn't going to happen for him. He'd been okay with that.

But now …

That faded hope came into sharp focus. Everything he'd thought was important before drifted away like a handful of feathers. All that mattered was Allison and this baby.

"It's okay." He said it to her as much as to himself, as it all sank in. "We'll figure it out."

Recognition flared of what now threatened this awakening dream. A danger Rick had created like a one-man wrecking ball, when he should've stayed the hell out of it.

At the same time, Rick's logical retaliation came at him hard-that Allison could be making up the pregnancy to blind Logan to a bigger, darker truth. He hesitated.

Then he looked at Allison.

Shoulders hunched, she stared at him with eyes full of dread. She appeared on the verge of weeping.

No, she wasn't faking this. Logan dropped to his knees and cupped her face. "We'll be okay, sweetheart."

"How?" Her disbelief crushed him.

"We'll work it out." He kissed her forehead. His mind flashed to the past two hours, the suspicion and doubt he'd caved into so easily-shame on him-and the threat Rick had dredged up by pawing into her past. "I have to take care of something."

He dug out his cell phone and made a call to the manager who headed the bodyguard division of Stone Security. "Send a detail up to my office. Yes, one of our security guards. Yes , my office. No one comes in or out except me."

"Where are you going?" Allison asked, worry clinging to her words.

"To hand Rick his ass."

"Don't leave. Please." Her green eyes were misty like a field after a thunderstorm. "It's not Rick's fault. He didn't know. No one was ever supposed to know." A tear leaked from the corner of her eye.

Reaching out, he brushed it away. "Sit tight. I'll be back before you know it."

Heading for the door, he flung it open. He marched into the hallway and collided with a dark-haired whirling dervish. "Geez, Logan. Watch where you're going." Devon dusted herself off. "I'm glad I ran into you. You've got to tell Rick to back off his Spanish Inquisition," she demanded."

"Exactly what I'm doing."

"Logan, every piece of intel on Trevor Hurtz is laced with encryptions and alerts that lead back to an untraceable IP address. The man has his online information strapped with virtual tripwire."